Copy and paste this worksheet as a separate page linked to the Homepage of your portfolio. DO NOT type your answers on THIS document because it needs to be used by other students. The title of your page which replies to these questions is linked to your portfolio and should begin with the first initials of your first and last name. (In my case, the link to this worksheet from my portfolio page would read frrezsisters.)
You may earn a maximum of 3 points toward your final grade by doing the above and answering the questions and submitting them on time (no later than Sunday, February 11 on or before 12:01am). Any worksheets submitted after the deadline will get a 0.
You will be rewarded a maximum of 3 points if I judge your work to be above average. You will receive 2 points if your work is average, that is it may have a few minor mistakes in some of the answers but demonstrates correct grammar and indicates that some, but not all, of the answers, are acceptable and well expressed. You will earn only 1 point if you simply answered the questions and/or if you use poor grammar and if there are signs that you have not read the material on which your answers are based.
1. Describe the stasis in the play: where, when, who, what, etc. in a paragraph.
- The play opens on Wasaychigan Hill Indian Reserve, Menitoulin Island, Ontario. It is latesummer, 1986. The characters are women of the Indian Reserve: Pelajia Patchnose, her sister Philomena Moosetail, Marie-Adele Starblanket (their half-sister), Annie Cook (sister of Marie-Adele and half-sister of the other two), Emily Dictionary (sister of Annie and ditto), Veronique St. Pierre sister in law of all of the above), Zhaboonigan Peterson (adopted daughter of Veronique), Nanabush (represented by the seagull, nighthawk, and bingo master – their God). It is mid-morning of a late August Day on Pelajia’s roof.
2. What is the intrusion?
- They hear the biggest bingo is coming to Toronto and all fight each other in the town store.
3. What is the unique factor?
- It is the day Anne Cook hears of and spreads the word about the Biggest Bingo in the World coming to Toronto.
4. What is the dramatic question that should be answered by the end of the play?
- Will Marie-Adele survive her cancer? Will the women make it to the Biggest Bingo in the World? Will any of the women win the “big pot”? Will any of the women leave the reserve?
5. Provide an illustration of the two kinds of exposition that the play has in it.
- (Information only known to one character) Emily Dictionary gives a background of her past as a motorcycle queen. She tells the story of her lover becoming depressioned and driving straight into a truck on the road.
- (information known to everybody) The illustration of the reservation in Ontario where all the women live.
6. Identify the most theatrical moment in the play and of what importance it seems to be.
- The most theatrical moment in the play is when all the women finally make it to the Biggest Bingo in the World. There are few lines exchanged during this time, it is mostly stage action and audience interaction. In this time, the women grab the bingo machine and haul it out. Meanwhile, Marie-Adele is dying. This is the moment that transitions into a graveyard scene and her death. It is important to the play because it brings all the women back to the reserve, and we find an answer to one of the dramatic questions.
7. List some of the themes of the play.
- Women, Indian culture, love, death, money and poverty, home, family, disability, God, religion
8. What does the chief character want and what are some obstacles that stand in the way of her getting what she wants?
- Anne Cooke vs. herself: She wants to have money and escape the reservation, but she’s scared to go. She also has a drinking problem that inhibits her. Anne Cooke vs. fate: She wants to win the biggest bingo in the world and have money, but it’s chance and isn’t up to her. Anne Cooke vs. individuals: She has to raise money to go to the Biggest Bingo in the world but people an gigs must pay her for it
9. Describe some possible images in the play and how does the title help us understand the play.
- Bingo, Nanabush and birds, Toronto,
- The title “Rez sisters” refers to Emily’s past girl-gang she rode with. It helps us understand the play because the women of the reserve become her new gang. They’re the women of the reserve.
10. Briefly define the family relationships that are examined in the play.
- The women on the reserve are all family in some way: half-sisters, full-sisters, sisters in law, etc. They take care of each other, despite bickering and having issues with one another. They all live in the same conditions. It is only through each other’s support and company that they continue to survive and thrive. in the case of the Biggest Bingo, no one is left behind. Without the men, it is the women who fend for each other.
You may earn a maximum of 3 points toward your final grade by doing the above and answering the questions and submitting them on time (no later than Sunday, February 11 on or before 12:01am). Any worksheets submitted after the deadline will get a 0.
You will be rewarded a maximum of 3 points if I judge your work to be above average. You will receive 2 points if your work is average, that is it may have a few minor mistakes in some of the answers but demonstrates correct grammar and indicates that some, but not all, of the answers, are acceptable and well expressed. You will earn only 1 point if you simply answered the questions and/or if you use poor grammar and if there are signs that you have not read the material on which your answers are based.
- 1. Describe the stasis in the play: where, when, who, what, etc. in a paragraph.
- The play opens on Wasaychigan Hill Indian Reserve, Menitoulin Island, Ontario. It is latesummer, 1986. The characters are women of the Indian Reserve: Pelajia Patchnose, her sister Philomena Moosetail, Marie-Adele Starblanket (their half-sister), Annie Cook (sister of Marie-Adele and half-sister of the other two), Emily Dictionary (sister of Annie and ditto), Veronique St. Pierre sister in law of all of the above), Zhaboonigan Peterson (adopted daughter of Veronique), Nanabush (represented by the seagull, nighthawk, and bingo master – their God). It is mid-morning of a late August Day on Pelajia’s roof.- 2. What is the intrusion?
- They hear the biggest bingo is coming to Toronto and all fight each other in the town store.- 3. What is the unique factor?
- It is the day Anne Cook hears of and spreads the word about the Biggest Bingo in the World coming to Toronto.- 4. What is the dramatic question that should be answered by the end of the play?
- Will Marie-Adele survive her cancer? Will the women make it to the Biggest Bingo in the World? Will any of the women win the “big pot”? Will any of the women leave the reserve?- 5. Provide an illustration of the two kinds of exposition that the play has in it.
- (Information only known to one character) Emily Dictionary gives a background of her past as a motorcycle queen. She tells the story of her lover becoming depressioned and driving straight into a truck on the road.- (information known to everybody) The illustration of the reservation in Ontario where all the women live.
- 6. Identify the most theatrical moment in the play and of what importance it seems to be.
- The most theatrical moment in the play is when all the women finally make it to the Biggest Bingo in the World. There are few lines exchanged during this time, it is mostly stage action and audience interaction. In this time, the women grab the bingo machine and haul it out. Meanwhile, Marie-Adele is dying. This is the moment that transitions into a graveyard scene and her death. It is important to the play because it brings all the women back to the reserve, and we find an answer to one of the dramatic questions.- 7. List some of the themes of the play.
- Women, Indian culture, love, death, money and poverty, home, family, disability, God, religion- 8. What does the chief character want and what are some obstacles that stand in the way of her getting what she wants?
- Anne Cooke vs. herself: She wants to have money and escape the reservation, but she’s scared to go. She also has a drinking problem that inhibits her. Anne Cooke vs. fate: She wants to win the biggest bingo in the world and have money, but it’s chance and isn’t up to her. Anne Cooke vs. individuals: She has to raise money to go to the Biggest Bingo in the world but people an gigs must pay her for it- 9. Describe some possible images in the play and how does the title help us understand the play.
- Bingo, Nanabush and birds, Toronto,- The title “Rez sisters” refers to Emily’s past girl-gang she rode with. It helps us understand the play because the women of the reserve become her new gang. They’re the women of the reserve.
- 10. Briefly define the family relationships that are examined in the play.
- The women on the reserve are all family in some way: half-sisters, full-sisters, sisters in law, etc. They take care of each other, despite bickering and having issues with one another. They all live in the same conditions. It is only through each other’s support and company that they continue to survive and thrive. in the case of the Biggest Bingo, no one is left behind. Without the men, it is the women who fend for each other.